SAN FRANCISCO - With a doubleheader sweep of San Francisco State on Saturday, the nationally-ranked Cal Poly Pomona baseball team has clinched the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) regular season title. It marks the Broncos' first league title since 1991.
Cody Ponce tossed a complete-game performance in the second game and induced a groundout on the final play, giving CPP the clinching victory 5-1. Ranked No. 1 in the West Region, the Broncos improve to 36-13 overall and 28-11 in conference play. The UC San Diego loss to Cal State L.A. Saturady put CPP alone in first place.
GAME ONE: CPP 8, SFSU 5The Broncos jumped to an early lead in game one, posting three runs in the first inning. Four members of the Green and Gold squad reached base safely before an out was even recorded.
Nick Cooksey drove in the first run, singling to center field and driving home
Christian Kelley. Then
Michael Zidek came up and increased the Bronco lead again, singling home
Kyle Garlick. A fielder's choice on
Ryan Webberley's at-bat proved enough to send Cooksey home and give the visitors the 3-0 lead.
Inning number two saw the CPP team add another pair of runs to the board as
Nicholas Bruno reached, then
Jacob Bernardy sacrifice bunted him over. After the sac bunt, Kelley added his second knock of the game and scored Bruno. Then Garlick, who already improved his reached-base-safely streak to 30 games with his first inning walk, doubled down the right field line and scored Kelley.
The next inning CPP posted yet another run as a
Michael Zidek single kicked things off for the Broncos, culminating in Zidek crossing home on a
Caleb Romo double. In the bottom half of the inning the hometown Gators scored their first run after a one-out triple and then a long grounder gave them enough time to reach home.
Pitching for the Broncos was
Max Bethell, he had a good showing and despite having five Gator runs on the board, just one of them was earned. This is so because the Broncos' defense commited five errors. Bethell lasted 3.1 innings and struck out four members of the SFSU squad, he only allowed four hits in the contest.
The Gators posted a four-run fourth inning, pulling them just one shy of the Broncos at 6-5.
Michael Koval entered the game and lasted the remaining 5.2 innings, earning himself the win and improving to an overall 3-0 tally on the season. He struck out six members of the home team and allowed only one hit.
The final runs didn't cross for the Broncos until the eighth inning
Mike Philp doubled to score Webberley and Bruno singled to score Philp. Those two runs gave the game its final 8-5 score.
GAME TWO: CPP 5, SFSU 1With the 5-1 win while Ponce tossed the complete game, the Broncos secured the title of 2015 CCAA regular season champions.
Again the Green and Gold wasted little time getting on the board and recorded a three-run second inning. Webberley led off the inning with a double to right center and was brought home with a single by Philp. Bruno walked and Bernardy reached on a fielder's choice. Kelley singled through the left side and scored Bruno giving the Broncos the 2-0 lead. Cooksey then singled through the left side and scored Bernardy.
The next inning came with another Green and Gold run as Bernardy scored Matt Munoz after he reached safely to lead off the inning. In the bottom half of the inning the Gators posted their lone run of the game with a single to right.
In the top of the seventh and final inning, the Broncos added a security run to lead the home team 5-1. Webberley singled and scored Zidek.
The two teams will play the final game of the series and the 2015 regular season Sunday at Maloney Field with an 11 a.m. start.
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